The Boy Who Ran
by Ginger Muffins
Summary: There's an old myth about a man who runs, and beneath his feet the ground crumbles. Maybe it isn't a myth. Why is he running? And why is he so familiar?
1. Chapter 1

There is an old myth spread across the Multiverse about the Running Man. It's said his very steps bring about destruction, pain and doom. The Running Man's myth is a story about a monster without a home, running from one place to the next. It is said that the Running Man will only stop if the Multiverse is destroyed.

This is not that story, but it's close.

**Chapter One: Like The First Time, But Not.**

Sage was free from obligations for the first time in decades. The war was over and the right side had won. Not only that, but there seemed to be a concentrated effort on the part of Battle Force 5 and the Council of 5 to stop her from doing anything for a while. She needed to relax, to take a day off, they'd said. Instead of feeling comfortable, she felt bored, and that was an old feeling as well. She didn't have any projects worth working on in a time of peace and prosperity. Tezz didn't need an assistant for his pet projects- he was far too arrogant for that, and far too protective. Vert, AJ, Stanford, and Zoom were out of town, conversing with the Government about a perceived Alien Threat and opening up diplomatic relations. Agura was working on her car, listening to the radio and occasionally singing along in an off-pitch tone. The Cortez brothers were quietly playing video games, or at least attempting to be quiet—occasionally their enthusiastic shrieks and hollers broke through the muffled door. And Sage was bored.

So she tried to make the most of it. Sage left the Hub via the back door and made her way into the desert to meditate, or at least think in a more natural space. She had a lot to think about, at any rate, even if she had little to actually do. The Blue Sentient floated slightly across the flats, feeling like a tumbleweed buffeted by events beyond her control. As she reached the peak of a hill, she stopped and surveyed the area. The flat, red land stretched for miles outwards, into the hazy mountains and then the clear blue sky. The shrubs of plant life sat still and squat on the earth, and the entire scene looked like how the inside of a dehydrated person's mouth tasted.

She closed her eyes. The Multiverse was safe from threat. Yes, there were lingering factions of the Red Sentients who wanted clemency, independence and the like, but negotiations were ongoing. She realized that the differences between herself and her brother were not as great as she hoped; yes, she fought for peace, and he fought for war, but they were still fighters when one got right down to it. She found herself almost hoping for conflict. Rawkus was threatening that something worse was coming, but it was a distant threat. Vert was trying to open up dialogue between the Earth's governments and the Sentient Council of Five, but so far that wasn't going well. Still, she had no doubts in his ability to connect people.

The rest of the Battle Force was bored too, she guessed. They were managing to amuse themselves, but didn't really have anything to stick around for. Did they? They were united by the need to defend the Multiverse from the menaces of the universe- what was the group without those menaces? Did it matter? Sage adjusted her meditative stance slightly, and frowned in concentration. She didn't know what to do with herself, either. She could stay on Earth, with her friends, or she could go back and counsel the council of fi—

Friends. That was it, that was the reason they lingered together so. They didn't want to leave each other. As far as Sage could tell, none of her friends had had close family ties, except perhaps the Cortez's. They wanted to stay together, as a family, and a group of friends. But without an excuse for their teamwork, how long could the familiarity go on for? Sage was deeply troubled. It was her duty to go back to her home and help the Sentients rebuild, but she wanted to stay with her friends. To stay with friends was no real reason to abandon her people, but at the same time it was the only acceptable one.

She let out a sigh of exasperation, and was just readying to leave when the sky ripped open. The tear looked like two long electrical bolts connected at each end, and in the middle there was a dark void, flickering with infinity and the look of a place between places, whatever that look might be. Sage had barely collected her thoughts from the confusion and the frustration when a man fell out of the crack in the sky and hit the ground. The fall looked painful, but he dragged himself back to his feet, and turned to the rip, waving his hands slightly. The rip got much smaller, and he turned back to his path and ran, limping slightly. The rip couldn't have closed entirely, however, for a blinding light flooded the sky, and it was opened again.

Through it came a battalion of silver cars, scarred and ugly looking from unknown battles. Sage began to float down the hill, swiftly and yet hesitantly, wondering what to do. She realized that the man who was running looked far too similar to Vert for her to dismiss the incident. Sage headed closer to the chase, contacting the Battle Force Five to hone in on her location. The silver cars surrounded the man, who fruitlessly attempted to back away. They were revving their engines and seemed animal-like in their pursuit, like cats playing with a mouse before they devoured it. A tall man in a silver suit got out of one of the cars. She couldn't see his face or any other features, but his stance made him seem like a person of authority. She mentally nicknamed him "commander".

The raggedy running man crawled backwards, away from the commander, and desperately screamed out a cry of fear. Sage was rushed into action, using some of the psychic energy she had managed to store to blast back a few of the cars. "Leave this planet, and the boy, alone. Both are under my guardianship, and if I catch you here again, I will destroy you." She said, hoping she sounded intimidating. The silver cars seemed to think so, as they turned away, back into the brink. The commanding man paused for a long time. He and Sage stared at each other. He gave a barely perceptible nod, then backed into the car, and through the rip in the sky. Sage made her way over to the young man, as quickly as she could. He did look really very similar to Vert- structurally, she analyzed, it seemed that they were twins. But this man was stringier than Vert was; he looked malnourished, as though he had lost his life to poverty and running. He had passed out at some point, and was covered in blood and scars. One of his hands was clenched shut over something, and he had deep bags under his eyes.

The clothes he wore were blue.

It was at that moment the members of the Battle Force Five that were still in Handler's Corners pulled up, in response to Sage's call. Agura was the first out of her car, all business, leaping to the boy's side. "Is that Vert?" Came Spinners voice, as he clambered out of the Buster.

"No," Agura said, looking to Sage for confirmation, which the Sentient gave, "He is very much similar, but this one appears to be older..." Agura continued, and then looked closer, "No, he's younger." She moved her fingers up one of his arms, "There are at least two fractures in this arm, and another that's healed wrong. It seems like he's been living rough for a while, and maybe... I don't know. Sage?"

"We should take him back to the Hub," said Sage, "He needs medical attention. This not-Vert was being chased by a group of what I would guess to be people." She felt faint of a sudden, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll need to power down for a while."

Spinner caught Sage's crystal as it fell to the ground, as Sherman carefully helped Agura place the stranger in the Buster. "What's going on?" Sherman asked Agura over the radio, as they began the drive back to the Hub.

"I have no idea," replied Agura truthfully.

Tezz coughed, "My instruments appear to be showing a major transdimensional anomaly- one that appears to have bruised the very fabric of this universe. I cannot comprehend the amount of power one would need to make that happen."

Sherman replied, tapping out equations as he drove, "At least 15 Sentient power stations at 100% capacity if in a two-inch model of this multiverse—I can't calculate what the power needed would be for an actualization…" Sherman replied

One could almost hear the wheels turning in Tezz and Sherman's heads, and as they got back to the Hub the two hastily made their way back to the lab, leaving Spinner and Agura to deal with the stranger. Agura knew some about fixing bones, but it was usually Vert or AJ who dealt with the injuries. They did the best they could with what they knew, and awkwardly stood in the 'hospital room', unsure of what to do next. "His hand seems to be held pretty tight around something- that can't be good for him," Spinner muttered, "Let me try and get it out-" He had barely touched the stranger's hand when the man's eyes burst open, and he sat upright.

"Sorry, I didn't-" Spinner began, but Agura could tell it would be useless to reason with the stranger. His eyes were wild and afraid, like a caged animal—he was probably barely conscious of their words. Ignoring the splints on his wounds, the stranger leapt out of the bed, slammed Spinner into the wall, and put his fists up. Agura backed away, her hands raised in surrender. The man stared at her for a second, looking slightly dazed, and sprinted past her. She knelt beside Spinner, who groaned and cursed. Satisfied that Spinner was okay, Agura stood and followed the stranger out.

She watched him from a distance, signaling for a curious Tezz and Sherman that they should stay in the lab. The stranger seemed to know somewhat instinctively where the exit was, because he was following the right path to get to it. The stranger sprinted up a flight of stairs, Agura cautiously following, as he ran across the garage, past the kitchen, and slammed open the front door. On the other side of the door was a surprised looking Vert Wheeler.

**TIME**

**AN/ Well, this is what I'm going to do with my time until I get my Acceleracers DVDs back. I'll be working on the Junkyard, slowly, but the inspiration bug hit me. Sorry people who want more Junkyard, I'm trying, I swear! I hope this will at least be entertaining in the meantime. Please comment, and point out any errors I make, because I am a derp and tend to screw up a lot. **


	2. Chapter 2

For Vert, it was like looking into a cracked carnival mirror. He knew his own reflection, and could see how the person behind the door looked like him. They were similar in somewhat worrying ways. The stranger's face was distorted, and though he seemed younger, his eyes made him seem old. They stared at each other, both shocked, neither willing to move. Then, the blue-clad stranger's grip on the doorframe slipped, and he collapsed sideways, clinging to the frame for support. A still slightly shell-shocked Vert grabbed the man, and pulled him upwards. "Stanford! Zoom! AJ! Can someone help me over here?" Agura was there first, linking an arm behind the stranger's back.

"What's going on?" Asked Stanford, and then, "Who is that?"

Vert frowned, "I think it might be me. Come on."

**Chapter 2: Stranger things have happened. Well, maybe once before.**

They settled the stranger back down on the hospital bed and got Spinner an ice pack for his nose. The team set about to questioning the stranger.

"I'm sorry," the man said hoarsely, "I didn't..."

"Din't what?" Asked Spinner, his nose swollen, "Mean duh bweak my nose? 'cause dat's what habbed!" Sherman grabbed Spinner and pulled him out of the room, trailing apologies.

Agura and Vert stood at the end of the bed, and the rest around the corners of the room. An awkward silence followed. "What's your name?" Vert finally asked.

The stranger laughed as though it was the funniest thing that he'd ever heard. "Same as yours."

Agura growled, "Answer his question."

"I did!" the stranger said, "I'm Vert- Joseph Wheeler, that's my name, and it's the same 's yours," he giggled again, "Sorry, I get a bit drunkish when I go through that place..."

"What?" Agura said, glancing sideways at Vert. Vert was staring intently at the other-Vert's clenched fist.

"The place? It's... I don't really get it, something about bruises."

"Trans-dimensional travel facilitated by the multiple-universes theory?" Tezz interrupted.

The stranger laughed, "Something like that..." He blinked bleary eyed around the room, "Are we in the USA?" The room nodded, "Okay, that's good, kinda close..." He drifted off slightly, before snapping awake again. "No, wait- I have to get out of here! You can't- they'll come for me and they'll-"

Vert interrupted him, "What's in your hand?"

The stranger smiled sadly, "That's a very good question. It's a ring and a shield and some other things—does it really matter?"

"Yes, because you're avoiding the question," Vert said.

"I was a long time ago and a bit far far away, and…" the Blue Vert said, sounding drunk. He closed his eyes, and his voice softened again, though he slurred, "No, you're not gon' get anything coherent out of me right now. You'll have to excuse me, 've been running for a while. I hate to be rude, 'specially since god knows whether you're civilized or not, but…" He trailed off, either asleep or unconscious.

Vert stared at the man. "I think... I think we're going to have to have a chat about this. Come on, to the hub." The group retired into the hub's main console room, to discuss.

Stanford broke the silence first; "Vert... What the hell?"

Vert shrugged, "Don't ask me- I wasn't here. Agura?"

Agura shook her head, "Sage was out in the flats, and sent us a distress signal. We got it, responded as quickly as we could, but by the time we got there she was running out of energy and didn't have time to explain. When the... not-Vert woke up, he punched out Spinner and ran off. We haven't had any time to talk to him more than you have."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Agura?"

"Do you really think he could be negative-Vert? I don't know, he doesn't seem as much a jerk as _that _version of you was..."

AJ raised a hand, "Uhh, negatives?"

Tezz nodded, "I suppose I would guess them to be some kind of perverse version of yourselves, a kind of band of opposites, but that is as far as I can infer."

"They were like that," Sherman nodded, leaning on a wall beside a still-sulking Spinner, "Basically 'evil' versions of us. So having other... ones of us around isn't exactly unprecedented."

"So if this is the Nega-jerky-Vert, we should probably keep a closer eye on him, contain him or something," said Zoom, eager to contribute, "I mean, who knows what kinda damage he could do out here."

"I agree!" Stanford added in bombastically, "If he's the bad egg, he could cause a lot more trouble than he's worth- I say we bang him straight to rights!"

"What does that even _mean_?" Zoom asked, but his question was quickly forgotten.

"I don't believe that this... gentleman is the Negative-Vert." It was Sage. She floated gently into the group, and continued, "The Negative 'Verse' as one might crudely put it, is a parasite dimension attached to this one, much like the Shadowverse, and the other parts. Calling them "Universe's" is a little too far though; they're generally more like 'realms' attached to our universe, which is why we can travel to them so easily. The arrival of this particular not-Vert coincided with a massive burst of energy, and precipitated in a dimensional bruise. I submit to you all that this is a Vert from an entirely different dimension; a different universe."

"Then how did he get here?" Tezz's accent grew thicker as he frowned, speedily walking towards the computer, "The amount of power, both computational and in terms of energy, needed to burst a hole in the universe, not to mention the effects it would have transdimensionally..."

"That's not all," Sage said, "He was pursued by a group of what I presume to be people, all drivers themselves. They did not appear to have his best interests in mind. I believe he barely escaped with his life."

"If those scars are any indication, this was one close escape of many." Agura glanced back to Vert, "So, what're we gonna do boss?"

Vert tapped his fingers together, "No way to know until the guy wakes up again. 'Till then, we just keep an eye on the hospital room and don't do anything stupid. At least, not until we've figured him out."

The group dispersed into a nervous silence, and Agura followed Vert towards the garage. He walked over to his car and hunched over it, staring intently but looking like he wasn't quite sure what he was doing. Agura nudged him, glancing over the engine, "It looks fine, so I'm pretty sure that's not what's bothering you. What's the deal, chief?"

He sighed, "It's just... it's really strange to see yourself and talk to yourself, is all. And he looked absolutely terrified, like there was barely any fire left in him- it's a bit like last time, I look at this guy and I wonder if there's anything similar on the inside at all, and I kinda don't want there to be..."

"Well, about the fire- you didn't see him deck Spinner. It was you at your angriest, I can tell you that. And as to the rest of it... you're being nervous about something we have no idea about, and in any case, if Sage is pretty sure this guy is legit, I don't think we have any reason to panic. You hear?"

Vert grinned, and leaned back on his car. "Is it weird that the way Sage described her discovering him kinda reminded me of how I picked her up?" He chuckled slightly, "And is it weird that I'm proud to see her not only defending herself but other people too? I mean, she's at least a couple of centuries old, and definitely more of a mom to me than I am any kind of adult to her, but..."

Agura grinned, but looked down, "How'd the meeting go?"

"Why do you ask?"

"You're babbling a bit, and it's mostly you worrying about Sage. It didn't go well, did it?"

Vert stared at the patch of oil Agura's eyes were fixated upon, and said, "No, it didn't go well. The guys in charge were completely unwilling to cooperate with us no matter what I said, and even though they know that the Sentients exist, they refuse to acknowledge anything "lest there is a public panic." At least, that's what one of the bureaucrats told us. The UN isn't any more help. The world just doesn't want to look up. So if Earth-Sentient relations go down, what does that mean for Sage? Could she stay here, or will she have to-"

Agura hushed him, "Vert, you've got to stop worrying about 80 things at once, or even better, stop worrying about things you can't control. We don't know what's coming next, so all you can do is what you can. And you've tried; it's in the hands of a bunch of paper pushers now."

"And the other-Vert?" Vert frowned, "Actually, can we come up with another name for that Vert? I just don't feel comfortable with two of me wandering around."

Spinner, Sherman and Tezz were back in the lab, with Sage watching them bustle with great interest, occasionally offering tidbits of advice. They were working on a couple of programmes at once, to measure energy fluctuation in the outer parts of the universe, to detect 'bruises' in the surface of the multiverse, an early warning system to detect the electronic rips that Sage had described, and a power extrapolator to figure out quite how the rip had occurred. Outside of the bustle, Zoom, AJ, and Stanford weren't quite sure what to do, so they cautiously went to the lounge to use the time the Cortez's were distracted to watch the World Cup.

Occasionally one of them would let out a stray burst of joy or agony, and would be shushed by the others.

Eventually AJ, fueled by good nature and disappointment in the quality of his chosen soccer/football team, ventured into the lab to see if there was anything he could do for the workers. "To replicate the rip, even on a small scale, would need too much energy—I don't see how…" Sherman was saying, as Spinner worked on coding a dimensional model behind him.

Tezz strode across the room to another computer, tapping on the screen as though it would make the code compile faster, "But think of the contributions to science! It would have been impossible to do such a thing as travel to pocket dimensions before, but we managed that!"

"By using alien technology—and you heard what Sage said, they're pocket dimensions, it's easy to get to them."

"Did anyone say that getting to the moon would be easy?" Tezz said, drama flashing in his eyes.

Spinner glanced up from the screen he was working on, "Pretty sure there was a speech that said just that, dude. "

AJ coughed, "Can I get you guys anything? Coffee? Pi—"

But the intelligencia had no time, even for pizza. They shooed AJ out of the lab, and closed the door, asking only for quiet. AJ sighed. His eyes were drawn to the room where the other Vert was asleep. Someone would have to check-up on him—was anyone even keeping an eye on the man? The Canadian walked over to the room, and poked ahead inside. The man was obviously awake, but not moving. He was staring at the ceiling. AJ couldn't help but notice the man's hand was still held tight around something. He debated on whether or not to get one of the others, and decided against it; they were all busy, and it would only result in the room being crowded again. He would grab the real Vert in a minute; at that moment, he was too curious to let things lie. He walked into the room, "Uh, hello."

The man on the bed groggily pulled himself up into a sitting position, "Hello yourself."

AJ didn't want to let the awkward silence flood in, so he blundered forward with "I'm AJ, what's your name?"

"Vert, but you know that," the strange-Vert paused, "Do you know if anyone in your group has a degree in torture?"

'Uh… pretty sure there aren't any colleges that give out those sorts of degrees, at least around here." AJ was confused to the question, but answered anyway.

"Any genocidiers? Despotic regimes? Power hungry megalomaniacs? People who think that just because certain body parts are shaped like or mirror other body parts means that they can be stitched together or transplanted any which way?"

"That's awfully specific." AJ replied.

"I've had a couple of bad experiences. They tend to make you want specificity."

"Well, as far as I can tell, nobody around here has done any torturing, killing, or genociding. I'd say no to the medical experimentation, but you never know with Tezz-" AJ had chuckled, but the second the words finished leaving his mouth he knew that they'd been a mistake.

"You did… mean that as a joke, didn't you?" the not-Vert said, actually uncertain.

AJ glanced around, uncomfortably, "Yeah, sorry. Anything else?"

The not-Vert gave him an approximation of a lopsided smile, "Do you have a bathroom around here? Shower optional, though it'd be nice. I'm not exactly the cleanest right now…"

"Uh, sure, let me show you, and then I'll go and tell the others…"

"So Stanford threatened to call his family, and the representative from the UK said that the Royals wouldn't care a damn, and then it all kinda collapsed into a mess of diplomatic relations," Vert was saying, bent over the hood of his car, "Pass a spanner?"

"God, it sounds like a fiasco; I don't—" Agura said, but AJ's cough interrupted her.

"Oh, sorry to interrupt, eh? I just wanted to—I thought you should know that the guest woke up," AJ said, standing awkwardly in the doorway.

"He's awake?" Asked Vert, hitting the back of his head on the hood of his car, "Is anyone keeping an eye on him?"

"He's… in the bathroom?" AJ said, unsure as to whether he'd replied to Vert's question properly, "I don't think he's in any fit state to go anywhere, and in case, I'd say Sage has a handle on it."

"Well, we should head down there. Still need to figure out what's going on with… everything."

The three went down to the hub together. Sage was in the middle of the room, looking a little uncertain. The rest of the group was nowhere to be found. The door to the bathroom opened, and a slightly cleaner blue-clad Vert stepped out. He seemed to collapse a little as he saw the others, but shook his head and walked towards them. "I'm guessing you have some questions for me, and I'm not going to be able to get out of them by passing out."

"Basically," Vert said, "Shall we go into the kitchen so we can sit?" And they did.

"Do you want your other friends to hear this, or am I going to have to explain it multiple times?" Said the other Vert dryly.

Agura snorted, "You'll likely be repeating it anyway, with added scientific interruptions." There was a subtext to her words_; you'd be overwhelmed again_. And it was probably true.

The other Vert nodded, and began his story; He'd been a surfer kid in California, and one day he'd been asked to participate in a race. The race went through Realms, and the prize was a Wheel—a "wheel of power," he called it. But evil robots, called Drones, wanted it, so they'd put it back. Two years later, he'd been called by the same guy, with some old friends, to fight off the Drones. They had a hold on the wheel, and were using it to win Accelerchargers; Keys that imbued the cars with special powers. The Drones were trying to win a long race, meet the people—"Accelerons"—who'd set it all in motion. The Drones wanted to kill them. The Blue Vert had won the race, and had all the Accelercharges, alongside another ring on the Wheel of Power.

And then things got weird. Blue-Vert's dad got him involved with a government programme to test the power of the Wheel and the Chargers. They found out the two could be used to travel to other universes, if used at the same time. This group, the Silencerz, devised a two part experiment. The Blue-Vert's team, made up of mostly his friends, would try to travel using only the Wheel, and his father's, made up mostly of employees, would try using the Chargers.

"It went wrong."

The Wheel drove, but couldn't guide. The Chargers could guide, but without the Wheel, could only follow. Also, it turned out, the Wheel protected you; if you had it on hand, you weren't likely to die, and when you slipped sideways between the universes what you saw there wouldn't drive you mad. If you had the Wheel. The Chargers could go back, but what the other team saw drove them insane. They needed the Wheel to travel properly, because the universe became infinitely big to them; too big. The team who used the Chargers wanted to make it smaller. So they destroyed their Universe, and jumped to the next, and destroyed that one too. They could only go to universes that the Wheel had been to, but since they wanted the Wheel chasing it was fine by them.

"So I've been jumping from universe to universe since then, and they've been chasing me. I can't let them get the Wheel; they'd destroy everything."

"So where is your Wheel?" AJ asked.

The Blue Vert smiled, and opened his hand. He'd been gripping so tightly there was blood, but in the center of his hand was a series of silver interlaced circles, about the size of a ring. In fact, he slipped it onto his finger, grimacing at the bloody mess in the palm of his hand. "Anything else?"

"Do you mind if we call you Blue? It's all Agura and I could come up with and it'll get confusing having two of me around," Vert said.

"I don't really have anything else around, so losing a name won't be too bad. Now, can I ask for some food or is that too much? I haven't eaten for a couple of days."

And it was awkward. The others talked to Blue as he ate, and he responded quite happily and charmingly. He was pleasant, and gave as many details as possible. But his demeanor was so detached from the stories he told it was difficult to reconcile them. He seemed to have concluded that the multiverse was big and it was mostly bad. Vert felt odd watching his team talk to him from a distance, and in some ways Blue _was _him. They had some similar mannerisms, taken from the beach or the tracks.

On the other hand, he didn't take things seriously; he seemed incapable of it. Everything was undercut by an ironic grin. Blue didn't know how to be angry properly, and Vert certainly did. It was almost two in the morning before anyone got to bed, but they trickled off into the night one by one, to their separate rooms in the hub. Vert finished lock-up as Agura talked to Blue. Then they all went to their separate beds, confused, but less so than the day before.

**TIME**

**AN; See, I got another chapter out! Sorry, y'all, I'm doing Nano and taking classes and being silly about overestimating my abilities, though still, I did manage a chapter. And the next one should be interesting. More cast interactions, and then… everything changes. Dun dun dunnn. Stay tuned for Chapter 3; Triangle Relations. Until next time!**


End file.
